I have made a couple of changes to the setting. #1 is that the mists are no longer there, operating on Batman logic of "Why the hell does anyone in their right mind keep living in Gotham? Eh, economy.... or something..." #2 is that the city is no longer flavored along "Grimdark/Eldritch Horror's 1940's New York", instead I have new ideas.

I began reading Frank Reade Dime novels, and I adore his vision of the future. I began doing more research on early retrofuturism, and I found these little gems.

I immediately conjured images of a steampunk super city that reallized the early age of discoveries ideals.... And then immediately thought of Cainsworth, and then imagined that city crumbling under the weight of a magical apocalypse that would change it's fate forever. Problem is, I'm just not into New York as a place for inspiration, and I coudn't keep going. But I have always been fascinated by New Orleans, and I love studying about it's history, way more so than New York. I had this image in my head of an Alternate History New Orleans that took more Art Nouveau influences from Paris, and then had become the center for a technological boom and revolution.

So Imagine this....

Mixed with a little of this...

Then a bunch of dumb occultists came along, unleashed mystical forces and horrors that they should have left well enough alone, and it turned into something like this...

And then a few decades later, the Roaring Twenties happen, and the Campaign begins!

This was an early Map I made for the setting, but it felt uninspired...

Then I began thinking about how interesting it would be if the city was laid out on a spiral, rather than a grid or a bunch of streets. Then I thought about Mad Geniuses like Nicola Tesla, the guy from Pi (Daren Arronofsky), and more Importantly Jack Parsons the scientist who figured out the correct rocket fuel for NASA, and was an Occultist who believed he was the Antichrist. So I wrote this out:

In Character

"The city of Cainsworth is laid out in a spiral almost like an invertebrates shell. Beginning in the center of the city. No one knows quite why the city is arranged in such a bizarre manner, but many theories abound. Many think that the reason why the city was laid out this way was to act as some sort of giant conjurers circle for a cabal of sorcerers, and that is why there is so much mystical activity within Cainsworth. Other's believe that the cities planner, Otto Varisfield, was a maniacal mathematical mad-man obsessed with the Golden Ratio, and Spirals. While no one can confirm this, many people speculate that Varisfield was the leader of a Numerology cult that believed in unlocking the secrets of the greater mysteries through advanced mathematics or something like that. No proof of the Eternal Spiral cult exists, but many people can point to the eccentricities of Varisfields writing, and how there was some sort of Occult activity within the inner circle of Early Cainsworth's upper elite."

I'm a huge fan of Steerpikes Hex campaign setting, such as his amazing use of bizarre imagery, and unique culture of eldritch weirdness. But I especially love the map that he's been working, so with I asked for his blessing:

LoA

Would you have a problem if I started making a map for Cainsworth in a similar style to this?

Steerpike

Not at all! You should!

Some tips that worked for me when drawing the big map of the whole city:

- Get pens that work for you (this doens't mean expensive).- Be patient and be OK with throwing out mistakes.- Don't sketch, it'll take forever. Just get good at drawing in pen.- Work on it in small amounts regularly.- Assemble it as you go so you can manage space.- Plan the city out in advance so you know what you need to draw.

So I'm planning out all of the districts, and the sewers so that I can start drawing out Interesting Landmarks, buildings, places of interest, etc, etc.

Hoers

If you have access to a PS4, you should really check out Bloodborne for some inspiration.

Back at College I had a roommate who had a PS4, and I began playing. Unfortunately it was a couple of weeks before Graduation so I wasn't able to get my head around the games system. But yeah, I'm definitely looking into it.